Ten- and 12-year employees remember past El Nino phenomenons that closed the slopes for stretches of time, but not over the Christmas and New Year's holidays like this season, Sales and Marketing Director Katrina Gayman said.

Advertisement

Resort officials are hoping to have three chilly nights for snow making before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, which is typically one of the best of the ski season, Gayman said.

"Every opportunity we get to make snow, we're trying to do it," she said.

Whitetail Resort opened Dec. 9, 2006, and remained operational for 15 days. Of the resort's 15 slopes, the most open on any day was nine, according to Gayman.

Snow tubing never opened.

Five events have been canceled without the option of rescheduling, Gayman said. Others, including the night program that involved schools, have been postponed, she said.